Kolek recovers for historic victory in Padres' comeback win
San Diego Padres right-hander Stephen Kolek recovered from a rocky first inning to earn a historic victory during his team's 8-6 win over the Miami Marlins on Tuesday.
The 28-year-old earned the win after allowing six earned runs in the first frame before finishing his outing with 5 1/3 innings pitched and no further damage.
"After the first, I just tried to do my part to get as deep into the game as I possibly could," Kolek said, according to MLB.com's AJ Cassavell. "Our team is awesome. They're the best, the way they showed their fight."
Kolek and the Padres got a lot of help from Marlins second baseman Ronny Simon, who committed three errors - a fourth one charged to the infielder was later changed to a hit.
Simon was removed from the game because of his mishaps, causing the 25-year-old to become emotional on the field.
After a brutal sequence of defensive mistakes, Ronny Simon is out of the game in the bottom of the 5th inning pic.twitter.com/P5BhYV94Nb
— Fish On First (@FishOnFirst) May 28, 2025
With the victory, Kolek became the first pitcher to win a game after allowing six or more runs in the first inning since Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox in 2006.
He is also the first pitcher to do so with all of the runs being earned since Cleveland's Bartolo Colon in 1999.
The Padres have won four of five since ending a six-game losing streak and would make the playoffs as a wild-card team if the season ended today.